The last C-17 marks the end of an era for Southern California: Editorial

Boeing Co. workers stand on platforms as they wave at their last C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet built for the U.S. Air Force as it flies away at the aerospace company's plant in Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. The Long Beach assembly line still has pending orders in the foreign market. Boeing's overseas customers include the United Kingdom, Australia, India and NATO. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

It will be the end of an era today when Boeing hands over its 223rd and final C-17 to the U.S. Air Force at the company’s plant at the Long Beach Airport.

It also will be an emotional day for the more than 4,000 employees who have been assembling this workhorse military plane for two decades. As our reporter Karen Robes Meeks wrote in a special report on the C-17 Sunday, assembling this plane has been a labor of love for workers.

Workers such as twin brothers Scott and Steve Hackman, graduates of Millikan High School who are following in the footsteps of their father, mother, aunt and uncle at Boeing. “It’s a family here,” said Steve Hackman.

It will be especially hard on Lynne Jungers, the longtime Boeing customer relations manager who was here when the C-17 was just a drawing on paper and then evolved into a powerhouse plane now flying around the world. “It’s emotional, it’s hard, to realize this is the final one for our government,” Jungers told Robes.

This last delivery of a C-17 to the U.S. Air Force does not mean the end of the C-17 assembly line here, but the plane is on wobbly wings.

Boeing has been working hard to find foreign customers for the plane to keep the production line going. Nations buying C-17s have included Australia, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Qatar. The current order from India for 10 C-17s will keep the assembly line open until the third quarter of 2014.

That’s not that far away in terms of building major aircraft, but Boeing officials are optimistic they can find more customers. Boeing is getting support from some Congress members such as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an Orange County Republican, who recently went to Japan to persuade that nation to buy 20 C-17s.

If the C-17 production were to shut down, it would be a major economic blow to the area and suppliers around the United States. The C-17 is the last remaining aircraft manufacturing plant in Southern California.

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Finding jobs here for the more than 4,000 employees would be an obvious problem. Aerospace jobs in Los Angeles County have declined from 130,100 in 1990 to an estimated 38,000 last year.

Another major issue, if the production line closed, would be what to do with the 1.1 million-square-foot facility on 163 acres of valuable Boeing real estate next to the Long Beach Airport.

Long Beach has had experience with that problem. When Boeing closed down its 717 commercial jet assembly line, the city went through different proposals for use of the 1.1 million square feet of space before Mercedes-Benz recently announced that it would be leasing that space.

Douglas Park, another former Boeing site nearby, is being transformed into a mixed-use master-planned development for office, retail and industrial use, including a recently opened Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

It never hurts to prepare for the worst, and the city should be preparing for the possible shutdown of the C-17 assembly line.

But, for now, we should celebrate the remarkable work of Boeing employees who have put together this magnificent airplane that has performed so admirably around the world. Their work is not done yet, and we hope it will continue for many more years.